Frost bitten

Dunstable’s FA Vase run, the furthest they have been in the competition, ended in defeat despite having longs spells of possession.

The tie played in front of 442 spectators was tight and the home side grabbed the only goal on 16 minutes. Ricky Perks cleared the ball but unfortunately it hit Graeme Turner and the kind rebound fell to Shaun Avis, who gleefully put the ball into an empty net.

Heath said: “I felt we deserved something out of the game. They made it very difficult for us, they have a good home record as well.”

With a lot of frost on the playing surface, it was debatable if the match was to go ahead. The Dunstable manager was clear: “The game shouldn’t have been played there was a lot of frost in different areas of the pitch.”

The visitors were up against it with Jermaine Hall away on holiday, while there were injuries to two other strikers, Leon Simpson and Jimmy Hartley both absent.

Heath explained: “It’s always a blow when you have your strike force missing, but I don’t want to make any excuses.”

“The boys have done ever so well, I think we deserved a replay but we just couldn’t get that vital goal we needed.”

Talking ahead of Saturday’s SML Premier Division clash with Leverstock Green, there will be a return to the team for Jermaine Hall.

Heath said: “We will have Jermaine back on Saturday, we will also be accessing the situation on both Leon Simpson and Jimmy Hartley injuries.

He continued: “I never considered us in any games as favourites, our league is very competitive and if we don’t show up we will get beat, to me it’s just another fixture.”